Educational Staff School-wide

Mrs. Nancy Boone - I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in deaf studies: teacher education and a minor in English from MacMurray College in Jacksonville, IL. I expect to complete my Masters of Library and Information Science from Kent State University in 2016. I’m currently the school librarian here at OSD, and I also teach high school yearbook and drama. I have been at OSD since 1999, and before becoming librarian I taught in elementary, middle school, and high school. Prior to coming here, I worked for two years as a teacher at the Illinois School for the Deaf and for one year as an itinerant teacher for CESA #2 in Wisconsin. I think we can all benefit from following this advice from J. M. Barrie: “Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.”

Cheri Balk

I coordinate the statewide OSD ASL Online courses and manage the educational online programming used by on-campus OSD students. I also teach high school courses in Digital Citizenship, Digital Photography and Study Skills. Previous to my coming to OSD in 2000-01 school year, I was a high science teacher at Schools for the Deaf in Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Montana and Vermont. I earned my Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology, Chemistry and Secondary Education from William Woods University in Fulton, Missouri and my Master of Science degree in Science Education from the University of Iowa. I became a science teacher (like my father before me…) because I love how science is a way of thinking and doing and I enjoy the process of helping students learn how to think critically – how you have to be both skeptical and thoughtful at the same time.

The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.

– Neil deGrasse Tyson

Terry Stewart

My name is Terry Stewart. Currently, I teach Art to K-12. This school year is my 3rd year teaching and my 13th year teaching at OSD. I graduated from Gallaudet University with my Bachelor’s degree and Rochester Institute of Technology with my Master’s degree in Fine Arts. I decided to become a teacher because I want to introduce the barrier-free world to the student. My favorite thing about working at OSD is working on art projects with the students.

Susan McTyiere, Au.D.

I have been working at OSD as an audiologist since 1999. OSD had contacted me about some open positions at the time and asked if I would come in for an informal talk. I met with Dr. Corbett and Tamara Burnett and had a lovely chat, learning about OSD, what was offered to the students here, the school’s philosophy and my philosophy as an audiologist regarding residential Deaf schools. Apparently, we had a meeting of the minds, as I was offered the job of audiologist within a few days.

In the years I have been at OSD, I have been a part of the Multifactored Evaluation Team and had the pleasure of connecting with families whose children are deaf/hard of hearing, from all over the state of Ohio. It has always been a joy to work with the children and to connect with the families and district personnel, to introduce them to the world of deafness and help them understand and explore their child’s/student’s deafness as a gift. I have worked as a “listening therapist”, helping students with amplification make sense of the world of sound. I established the state wide FM loaner program and managed that for many years. I am responsible for keeping all the hearing technology that our students now use “up and running”, coordinating hearing health care with families and hospitals/clinics, and monitoring the hearing of our students, at least every three years for their ETR and more frequently for those who have progressive hearing losses. I also supervise audiology interns from various Ohio universities as they work toward their doctoral degrees,helping them with not only their clinical skills but building their understanding of Deaf Culture.

When I first entered the world of deafness, I went through a teacher of the deaf training program at a small university in southern Illinois, MacMurray College. While in college, I had the opportunity to live and work at the Illinois School for the Deaf, did my student teaching at ISD,and developed a love for deaf culture and sign. I taught for three and a half years in the western suburbs of Chicago. Feeling a calling to pursue more education, I entered an audiology program at Vanderbilt University in 1985.After receiving my masters in audiology, I worked as an educational audiologist for a regional educational program in Illinois for a few years. I then had an opportunity to broaden my clinical skills, and worked as a clinical audiologist at an osteopathic hospital in the Chicago area for five years. When my children were young, I worked part time as a substitute teacher and an educational interpreter in Michigan and Ohio for a couple of years. Since joining OSD, I’ve returned to school yet again to pursue a doctorate in audiology through A.T. Still University, which I completed in 2006.

With my training in deaf education and audiology,educational audiology was a natural fit for me. The case management and connection of students, families and outside agencies is the part of my job I enjoy the most. I enjoy the direct communication with the students, helping them with their amplification and communication needs, helping families understand their child’s abilities and needs, and linking families and students with outside service providers and resources, when requested, to pursue hearing technology.

One of my favorite quotes, which applies to all aspects of life, is, “We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insolvable problems”. (Charles Swindoll)